Roy Moore files complaint to block Alabama Senate result

Roy Moore filed an election complaint on Wednesday, alleging potential voter fraud in Alabama’s special election and urged a delay in certifying the results.

Moore, a Republican, has refused to concede after losing the Senate race on December 12 to Democrat Doug Jones by more than 20,000 votes.

In its last-minute court battle to stop state officials from certifying Jones as the winner, the Moore campaign said certification should be delayed until a “thorough investigation of potential election fraud,” according to a press release.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, however, told CNN’s “New Day” Thursday morning that he will certify Jones as the winner later in the day.</>

“Will this affect anything?” Merrill said, referring to Moore’s challenge. “The short answer to that is no.”

Brilliant news, Laurie. But isn’t it bizarre that it was even necessary? Looking at Trump and his hangers-on, it strikes me that it isn’t just honesty and decency that are completely lacking. It’s any vestige of dignity too. Trump’s bizarre, obsessive, vindictive rants on Twitter. Moore’s refusal to accept the result of a democratic vote. I’d die of embarrassment to behave like that in public. But they have no shame whatsoever.

Yes Marco, that’s true. Bizarre is the correct word. Roy Moore is a fundamentalist and they can’t be trusted to act and think in ways that we consider to be normal or decent. Remember that they believe it is their duty to impose their religious views on everyone else. Their DUTY. That explains a lot.

Brilliant news, Laurie. But isn’t it bizarre that it was even necessary?

This is similar wish-thinking to Trump!
In the Scottish wind-farm case, Trump refused to accept the verdict of the court in court after court, all the way to the UK supreme court! – Losing every time! – Presumably because he really really really believed that if he wanted to win, eventually some court would see his whizzdumb and agree with him – despite a lack of a case which appeared credible to anyone else!
To a devout faith-thinker, (like holy-book “interpretation”) laws mean whatever the believer wants then to mean!

Spoilt children from feckless families, also ask around if a supervising adult says “no”, in the expectation of finding a more gormless adult who will say “yes”! It is a characteristic of the relativist thinking which manipulative liars love – as with global warming deniers!
If the expert scientists tell things they don’t want to hear – they find another person who claims to be a scientist, who will tell them what they like to hear, and then they pretend to an audience that they are listening to a “superior class of scientist”!!

The action, during a brief meeting at the State Capitol, was essentially the state’s final step before the seating of the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama in a quarter century.It was also a swift rejection, by some of the state’s most powerful Republicans, of Mr. Moore’s complaint that he was the victim of “systematic voter fraud.”

Mr. Jones’s margin of victory was 21,924 votes, with more than 1.3 million ballots cast.

The certification leaves Mr. Moore, 70, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court whose campaign faltered partly because of allegations of sexual misconduct against teenage girls, with almost no avenues to derail Mr. Jones’s ascension to the Senate.The election aftermath followed a familiar pattern for Mr. Moore, who in the past has been eager to declare victories and pronounce grievances — but loathe to concede defeats.

Democrat Doug Jones has been certified as the winner of the Alabama senate race despite a last-ditch lawsuit by the defeated Republican Roy Moore.

Mr Jones will be sworn in by Vice-President Mike Pence on 3 January.

A spokesman for the Jones campaign, Sam Coleman, called it a “desperate attempt by Roy Moore to subvert the will of the people”.

“The election is over, it’s time to move on,” he added.

The election result was certified by the state canvassing board, which is made up of the governor, secretary of state, and the attorney general – all elected Republicans.

Secretary of State John Merrill said that all allegations of voter fraud were properly investigated, and were determined to be unfounded.

Conspiracy theories have spread in online conservative groups since the election, alleging without evidence that black voters were bussed in from other states to vote for Mr Jones.

Mr Merrill said that one report of a suspiciously high voting turnout in a community that does not exist was perpetuated by “somebody [who] just made that up and started circulating it on the internet”.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced plans for a new law to combat so-called fake news.

He said that during elections social media would face tougher rules over the content that they put online.

Deliberate attempts were being made to blur lines between truth and lies and undermine people’s faith in liberal democracy, he added.

Correspondents say there is no question that Mr Macron had Russia in mind when he made the announcement.

He has already spoken out publicly about what he sees as Moscow’s attempts to manipulate opinion in Europe and the United States.

Speaking at a new year reception for the media, Mr Macron said it was possible now at a cost of just a few thousand euros to propagate untruths over social media.

“Thousands of propaganda accounts on social networks are spreading all over the world, in all languages, lies invented to tarnish political officials, personalities, public figures, journalists,” he said.

In response, he proposed imposing tougher rules on social media about revealing the sources of apparent news content.

He also said limits would be put on how much could be spent on sponsored news material.

“We will develop our legal system to protect democracy from this fake news,” he said, quoted by AFP.

US President Donald Trump has scrapped the voter fraud commission he set up in May to investigate his own allegations of illegal voting.

A White House statement said many US states had refused to cooperate with the commission.

Mr Trump has said fraud had cost him the popular vote in the 2016 election.

His rival Hillary Clinton won three million more votes overall than Mr Trump in results that were certified by the Federal Election Commission.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Mr Trump had decided to dissolve the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity

A name which is a sick joke, when applied to such a dubious and transparently dishonest ploy!

“rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense”.

Which is Trump speak for ” Those ‘so-called-judges’ will throw out my fantasy delusional claims”, – despite me throwing buckets of taxpayers money at lawyers paid to make up some Dimbart headlines!

Democrats had alleged the voter fraud commission is a ploy to suppress left-leaning voters.

Now who would have guessed that a Trump “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” (voter fraud commission), would be set up to try to perpetrate disenfranchisement and voter fraud? 🙂

Mr Trump won the all-important electoral college vote in November 2016 by prevailing in Midwestern states; however, Mrs Clinton gathered more ballots nationwide – known as the popular vote.

The Republican president has insisted he in fact won the popular vote, “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally”,without offering any evidence for the claim.

State election officials have disputed Mr Trump’s claim and many states refused to provide the commission with information for all their registered voters, including their names, addresses, political affiliation and voting history.

Donald Trump has continued attacking critics over a tell-all book as his party gathers for a key meeting to thrash out their priorities for 2018.

A retreat at Camp David will focus heavily on a strategy before crucial congressional elections in November.

We are 10 months from congressional elections in the US – all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, and another 33 in the Senate.

Kevin McCarthy, the House of Representatives’ Majority Leader, is among the Republican leaders who will speak this weekend.

In an interview with Fox News this week, he said that the party of a first-time president always lost an average of 25 seats in the next House election after they were sworn in.
The Republican majority in the House is only 24 seats, he warned.

Mr McConnell is expected to address the political landscape ahead of the Senate elections, Associated Press report.

It will be difficult to avoid discussing the victory of Democrat Doug Jones in last month’s Senate race in deeply conservative Alabama.Wider Democrat wins later in 2018 would make it much more difficult for Mr Trump and Republicans to push through their policies.

Those issues are reported to include:

Specifically, how legislators can agree on funding the federal government for the current fiscal year.
If they don’t do so before 19 January, there is a risk of a government shutdown.

Different Republicans have different priorities: for example, Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, is keen to address a reform of welfare programmes.

On the other hand, Mr Trump and Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, will push for funding to rebuild infrastructure, Reuters news agency reports.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security was widely reported on Friday to have asked for $18bn (£13.3bn) to complete a section of Mr Trump’s much-vaunted border wall with Mexico – though it is unclear if this will be discussed in the latest round of budget talks.

Let’s see if Trump is able to focus on matters other than a book’s criticism of him and his White House set-up?
The agenda is probably more than half a page long! 🙂

Michael Wolff’s book raises concerns over Mr Trump’s mental health. The president called Wolff a “total loser”.

Fire and Fury went on sale early on Friday, days ahead of its scheduled release, despite the president’s attempts to block its publication.

So Mr Wolff -as Trump declared “a total loser”, is probably crying all the way to the bank! 🙂

Mr Trump tweeted he was mentally fit, adding that he was a “genius….and a very stable genius at that”.

So who needs psychiatric research and specialist medical analysis? Trump – the master of all scientific and administrative knowledge has spoken and pronounced it to be so! 🙂

(Other delusional news:- Nigel Farage pronounces himself to be the UK representative of those who bought into the referendum brexit con, in a courtesy meeting with the European brexit negotiators!)

Last night on Rachel Maddow’s show she advised viewers to keep an eye on the strange exclusion of Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General, from the big Camp David meeting event going on this weekend. Calls for him to resign are coming from Republicans because they want to replace him with someone who is sympathetic and useful and will not recuse from the Russia conspiracy investigation. Maybe Trump will just fire him impulsively or as part of a plan.

America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” has announced he will be running for US senate in Arizona.

Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt and later pardoned by Donald Trump, will run as a Republican to replace retiring Senator Jeff Flake.

The 85-year-old was found guilty of violating a 2011 order to stop detaining migrants.

He is running to “support the agenda and policies of President Donald Trump”, he said in a tweet on Tuesday.

“I have a lot to offer. I’m a big supporter of President Trump,” Mr Arpaio told the Washington Examiner.

He was one of the earliest supporters of Mr Trump’s candidacy and could have faced six months in jail if the president had not pardoned him in August.

The former policeman told the Washington Examiner that both sitting Arizona senators, Mr Flake and John McCain, opposed Mr Trump’s pardon.

Mr Arpaio served as the elected sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years until he lost the seat to a Democrat in 2016.

He rose to national prominence for detaining Spanish-speakers under suspicion of being undocumented migrants and for his sweeps of Hispanic communities searching for undocumented immigrants.

The former sheriff was convicted in July of deliberately violating a 2011 injunction halting his practice of detaining migrants who are not suspected of having committed a state crime.
Only federal officers have jurisdiction over immigration.

He outlined several of his priorities and reasons for running in a fundraising memo to supporters.

Among them include combating the “liberal Left” and their attacks against gun owners and “unborn children”.

Several Democratic lawmakers have been outspoken on Twitter about Mr Arpaio’s decision to run.

Some are warning that in such a politically competitive state, Mr Arpaio’s bid could fuel Democrats to organise with more force as they did in December’s Alabama race, where Democrat Doug Jones beat Republican candidate Roy Moore.

Mark DeSaulnier✔@RepDeSaulnier

BREAKING: Joe Arpaio is running for senate in AZ.
Didn’t we just prove in Alabama that a racist and person
of poor moral character should not be elected
to the United States Senate?

The problem with “GREAT” Trumpy heroes, is that they are only a short step from demonhood when the consequences of promoting false news, conspiracies, and pseudo-science kick in and are then exposed, as rogues fall out with each other!

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s ex-chief strategist, has stepped down from the right-wing Breitbart News organisation where he built his reputation.

The move comes amid a furore over remarks he reportedly made about President Donald Trump’s son.

He described a meeting Donald Trump Jr held in New York with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential election campaign as “treasonous”.

He was one of Mr Trump’s most trusted – and controversial – aides.

But he left his post last summer after reports of a power struggle among Mr Trump’s White House staff.

His subsequent attempt to take on the Republican establishment suffered a severe blow when Roy Moore, the Senate candidate he championed in a special election in Alabama, lost to a Democrat – the first time that party has won in the state in decades.

By Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

Steve Bannon’s fall from power is now complete. He was first stripped of his top White House job. Now he has been cashiered from his position atop a media empire he helped create.

As he surveys the rubble, he has no-one to blame but himself. In both instances, his decision to speak his mind publicly was his undoing.

Just because Donald Trump can babble nonsense and sling insults with impunity at present, this seems to have led some of his followers to believe they can do likewise!

He criticised administration policies and, in an even greater transgression, took aim at Donald Trump’s own family in sharply personal terms.

I am amazed that in most policy areas, anyone would be able to find any semblance of Trump policies sufficiently coherent to criticise!

When the White House made it clear last week it was time to pick sides between Mr Trump and Mr Bannon, the choice for most conservatives was clear.

Now Mr Bannon’s hopes of funding insurgent candidates against incumbent Republican senators in 2018, and boosting their candidacies through his media megaphone, have been dashed.

Mr Trump has recently taken to referring to Mr Bannon as “Sloppy Steve”, a derogatory reference to his former aide’s famously dishevelled appearance.

And Rebekah Mercer, a wealthy benefactor of Mr Bannon, said at the weekend she had ended her support for his political efforts.

When a stooge-puppet no longer jumps to the Republican master’s and sponsor’s tune, he is just another expendable citizen!

But San Francisco’s Judge William Alsup ruled it must stay in place while litigation against the move continues.

The Obama-era scheme protects some 800,000 people, and also provides temporary permits for work and study.

In his ruling, William Alsup stated that “the government is hereby ordered and enjoined, pending final judgment herein or other order, to maintain the Daca programme on a nationwide basis on the same terms and conditions as were in effect before the rescission”.

He said the justice department’s argument that the scheme was illegal was based on a “flawed legal premise”.

The district judge ordered the government to process renewal applications from people who had previously been covered.

However, this would not be the case for those who had never before received protection under the programme.

. . . . and guess what!
As usual – Rather than setting an example in respecting and upholding the law, and accepting normal legal procedures, Trump whinges, and egotistically pretends that laws which challenge his illegal edicts are “unfair”, and that the fault is with the courts rather than with his know-it-all incompetent disregard of legal requirements for just hearings before rulings are given!

Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to US President Donald Trump, has been summoned to testify before a grand jury, US media report.

He was reportedly subpoenaed by former FBI director Robert Mueller, who is leading an inquiry into alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election campaign.

Mr Bannon appeared separately on Tuesday before a Congressional panel.

Congress is holding its own inquiry into the allegations.

Mr Bannon was subpoenaed last week, the New York Times reports, quoting an unnamed person with direct knowledge of the matter.

However the summons could be a negotiating tactic by Mr Mueller to persuade Mr Bannon to agree to be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting of the special counsel’s offices in Washington, the paper’s source added.

US intelligence agencies, including the CIA and NSA, concluded with “high confidence” in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort to thumb the scale of the US election for Mr Trump.

Both the Russian and US presidents have poured scorn on suggestions of collusion, with Mr Trump calling it “the greatest political witch hunt in history”.

But he recently fell out with Mr Trump publicly after reportedly making comments about the president and his family in a newly-published book, Fire and Fury, by Michael Wolff.

He was quoted as calling a meeting in June 2016 between Mr Trump’s son Donald Jr and a group of Russians “treasonous”.

The House Intelligence Committee is also investigating the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been questioned in an investigation into whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign in the 2016 election.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) confirmed to the BBC that America’s top prosecutor was interviewed last week.

Mr Sessions is thought to be the first member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet to be questioned.

Mr Mueller, who was appointed as special counsel, is also investigating whether Mr Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey in May last year was an effort to obstruct the agency’s Russia probe.

The interview with Mr Sessions, the nation’s top lawman, lasted several hours, according to US media reports.

The US intelligence community has already concluded that Moscow tried to sway the presidential election in favour of Mr Trump, though Russia denies this.

Special Counsel Mueller is investigating the allegation of Russian meddling, and possible collusion, as are three different congressional committees.

Mr Sessions also may know details about why the president sacked FBI Director James Comey, which could be a key component of any obstruction of justice case Mr Mueller builds against the president or his staff.

With the Sessions interview – and recent news that Steve Bannon will also speak with Mr Mueller – there are only a handful of top Trump advisers who served in both the administration and the campaign who have yet to receive a visit from the special counsel’s office. Vice-President Mike Pence is one. Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump are two others.

Then there’s the president himself.

Mr Mueller’s investigation appears to be heading toward a face-off with the president. Then it will be time for the former top FBI man to put his cards on the table.

President Donald Trump has told global finance leaders he will always put the US first when it comes to trade, but “that does not mean America alone”.

Of course whether it leaves “America alone” will be a decision taken by other trading countries, on whom he has slapped tariffs, and the courts – not by Trump’s sycophants!

“The US is open for business,” he said in his inaugural address to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday.

But he continued to attack “predatory” trade practices, warning partners that the US would not tolerate unfair trade.

Which is a sick joke – given that Trump has no idea what “fair trade” is and is trying to slap on punitive tariffs to favour US manufacturers, obstruct competition, and rake-off large levies from the profits of any successful importers!

“Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South.

Fair Trade organisations have a clear commitment to Fair Trade as the principal core of their mission. They, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.” They can be recognised by the WFTO logo.

Fair Trade is more than just trading:

It proves that greater justice in world trade is possible.

It highlights the need for change in the rules and practice of conventional trade and shows how a successful business can also put people first.

It is a tangible contribution to the fight against poverty, climate change and economic crisis.

The problem with “GREAT” Trumpy heroes,
is that they are only a short step from demonhood when the consequences of promoting false news, conspiracies, and pseudo-science kick in
and are then exposed, as rogues fall out with each other!

It is apparently now a classified sensitive state secret, that the president is a habitual liar who obstructs investigations, while being propped up by the false-news media, conspiracy theories, and Republican stooges!

Democrats say their memo corrects errors and omissions in the Republican memo, which Mr Trump approved.

The White House said Mr Trump could not declassify the Democrats’ memo because of “sensitive passages” that created “concerns for national security”.

The House Intelligence Committee, which is led by Mr Trump’s Republicans, voted unanimously on Monday to release the Democrats’ 10-page report.

That left it up to President Trump to decide whether or not to clear it.

Ms Pelosi issued a statement declaring: “The president’s decision to block the Democratic memo from release is part of a dangerous and desperate pattern of cover-up on the part of the president.

“Clearly, the president has something to hide.”

The senior Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, accused Mr Trump on Twitter of double standards, for not blocking the original Republican memo despite the pleas of the justice department and FBI.

Adam Schiff✔@RepAdamSchiff

After ignoring urging of FBI & DOJ not to release misleading Nunes memo because it omits material facts, @POTUS now expresses concerns over sharing precisely those facts with public and seeks to send it back to the same Majority that produced the flawed Nunes memo to begin with:
1:46 AM – Feb 10, 2018

The Republican memo, which was four pages long, accuses US investigators of using flawed evidence to obtain a warrant for spying on former Trump aide Carter Page.

Democrats argue the Nunes memo is an attempt to undermine the federal inquiry into allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

Mean while – two more of Trumps close aides have resigned in denial, under an investigative cloud of allegations of abuse found by the FBI!

@#23 – After ignoring urging of FBI & DOJ not to release misleading Nunes memo because it omits material facts, @POTUS now expresses concerns over sharing precisely those facts with public

Bbbbut the Trumpies have alleged that the material facts are “flawed evidence”, so they can’t have public scrutiny of that actual evidence which they claim is “flawed”.
“Evidence” and objective criticism is an anathema to assertive Trumpy propagandists! Fancy the FBI investigating potential spies in the National Interest?
What will they get up tp next??? 🙂

“President Trump’s refusal to release Intelligence Committee Democrats’ memo is a stunningly brazen attempt to cover up the truth about the Trump-Russia scandal from the American people. The President’s decision to block the Democratic memo from release is part of a dangerous and desperate pattern of cover-up on the part of the President. Clearly, the President has something to hide.

“The U.S. intelligence community has concluded, and members of Trump’s cabinet agree, that the Russians interfered in our election and plan to do so again. America’s intelligence and national security are being politicized. Why won’t the President put our country before his personal and political interests?”

On the subject of reckless risks taken with National Security, it appears that senior Trump appointees are still operating without full security clearance! – and as usual – the White House PR. spouters are disputing the accounts of the professionals:-

Mr Coats was one of several spymasters who gave evidence on Tuesday to the Senate Intelligence Committee about global threats facing the US.

“Sometimes it is necessary to have some type of preliminary clearance in order to fill a slot,” the US director of national intelligence said in response to a question from Democratic New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich.

“But if that is the case the access has to be limited in terms of the kind of information they can be in a position to receive.”

He told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday there is currently a government-wide backlog of 700,000 security clearance applications.

Mr Coats’ testimony comes amid controversy over the interim security clearance granted to Mr Porter, the former White House staff secretary who was forced out last week after two ex-wives told US media he was emotionally and physically abusive to them.

In Tuesday’s hearing, FBI director Christopher Wray appeared to contradict the White House’s account of when it knew about the allegations against the president’s gatekeeper, which he denies.

Mr Wray said the bureau notified the White House about problems in Mr Porter’s background check in March last year.

That is months earlier than the White House said it received the information.

Mrs Sanders later disputed the FBI timeline, saying that the background check had not yet been completed.

Mr Wray also said the FBI delivered the final results in January of its background investigation into Mr Porter.

But the White House said last week that Mr Porter’s background investigation was “ongoing” at the time he quit.

The White House is also facing questions about presidential adviser Mr Kushner’s access to classified material.

Despite his lack of a full security clearance, Mr Kushner is able to read the President’s Daily Brief, a top secret intelligence report that Mr Trump himself does not bother to read, according to reports.

Mr Kushner is one of dozens of White House employees still awaiting permanent clearance, according to the Washington Post.

His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said the 37-year-old’s application is taking longer than usual “because of the extent of his holdings, travels and lengthy submissions”, according to the newspaper.

The wealthy New York real estate developer has had to refile the national security questionnaire required of all prospective White House employees after making a number of omissions.

Last October, the head of the National Background Investigations Bureau told Congress he has “never seen that level of mistakes” on any security clearance application.

The long-term personal lawyer of US President Donald Trump has admitted privately paying an adult film star $130,000 (£95,000) in 2016, in a statement to US media.

It follows US media reports that the porn actress known as Stormy Daniels was paid to sign an agreement stopping her discussing an alleged affair.

She first said she had a relationship with Mr Trump in a 2011 interview.

The lawyer has previously said Mr Trump “vehemently denies” it occurred.

“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms Clifford [Stephanie Gregory Clifford, her real name], and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Michael D Cohen told the New York Times.

He said he told the Federal Election Commission the same after a watchdog group filed a complaint about the payment, claiming that it had served as an “in-kind” political contribution to Mr Trump’s campaign.

“The payment to Ms Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone,” Mr Cohen said.

In a 2011 interview with InTouch magazine, the actress said she began a sexual relationship with Mr Trump in 2006, shortly after Melania Trump gave birth to his son Barron.

The reports re-emerged in January when the Wall Street Journal reported that she was paid to sign a non-disclosure agreement in the run up to the 2016 election, which prevented her from discussing the alleged liaison.

Ms Clifford was believed to be in discussion with US media about an television appearance to discuss Mr Trump at the time, the report said.

Lawyers are so well known for paying out of their own pockets on behalf of clients as anyone who has employed one will tell you. They rarely want money up front and are quite happy trusting you to cough up in due course. So let’s see if I understand this. Trump denied ever having sex with her and his lawyer gave her $130,000 of his own money to protect his client from the story of the sex he never had with her becoming public? Seems quite plausible to me anyway.

Thirteen Russians have been charged with interfering in the US 2016 election, in a major development in the FBI investigation.

Three of those named have been accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five have been accused of aggravated identity theft.

The announcement was made by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling.

Three Russian companies are also named in the indictment.

One of them is the Internet Research Agency, based in St Petersburg, which the 37-page indictment said “had a strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system, including the 2016 US presidential election”.

Speaking at a news conference, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said there was no allegation that any American was “a knowing participant in this illegal activity” nor was it alleged that the meddling altered the election outcome.

What does the indictment say?

It says a group of Russians:

Posed as Americans, and opened financial accounts in their name

Spent thousands of dollars a month buying political advertising

Purchased US server space in an effort
to hide their Russian affiliation

Organised and promoted political rallies within the United States

Posted political messages on social media accounts
that impersonated real US citizens

Promoted information that disparaged Hillary Clinton

Received money from clients to post on US social media sites

Created themed groups on social media on hot-button issues,
particularly on Facebook and Instagram

Operated with a monthly budget of as much as $1.25m (£890,000)

Sent money to a US member of the organisation
with the aim of building a cage large enough to hold an actress
portraying [Hillary] Clinton in a prison uniform

The indictment says those involved systematically measured how well their internet posts were doing and adjusted their strategies to maximise effectiveness.

It also says those named in the indictment began discussing how to affect the election as early as 2014.

“By 2016, defendants and their co-conspirators used their fictitious online persons to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election,” the indictment continues.

“They engaged in operations primarily to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.”

A former aide to Donald Trump says he will not co-operate with the inquiry into alleged Russian election meddling.

Sam Nunberg, who helped launch Mr Trump’s campaign, said he would refuse to comply with a grand jury subpoena.

“I think it would be really, really funny if they wanted to arrest me because I don’t want to spend 80 hours going over emails,” he told US media.

I would find it rather amusing if contemptuous arrogant pratts like, this were given extended opportunities to reconsider their decisions in the confines of a solitary jail cell!

Mr Nunberg also suggested he thinks the special counsel’s team believes they have something on Mr Trump.

Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller is currently investigating if there were any links between the Trump campaign and Russia, and if there was any effort by the White House to obstruct justice.

Case proven???

Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC Washington

Refusing to comply with a grand jury summons could result in contempt of court and obstruction of justice charges – and, eventually, a prison sentence.
It’s a steep price to pay to make a point about the scope of Robert Mueller’s inquiry.

If Sam Nunberg wants to know how bad it could get, he might familiarise himself with the story of Susan McDougal, who served 18 months in jail for refusing to co-operate with independent counsel Ken Starr’s investigation into then-President Bill Clinton’s Arkansas real estate deals.

There’s time for Mr Nunberg to change his mind and meet with the grand jury, of course. In the meantime, he’s soaking up the media spotlight and airing grievances against old campaign colleagues.

In addition, if Mr Nunberg can be believed, his comments shed light on the direction of Mr Mueller’s investigation, which includes wide-ranging questions about Trump confidant Roger Stone’s connections to Wikileaks, Mr Trump’s 2013 trip to Russia for a beauty pageant and the president’s personal business dealing.

In other words, Mr Mueller’s investigation is digging deep – and probably won’t be wrapping up anytime soon.

He also said he had been told by former Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller that the Russians tried to send prostitutes to the real estate magnate’s hotel room in Moscow during the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

But Mr Nunberg said Mr Trump had refused.

“He’s too smart,” he said.

After he was fired by then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Mr Nunberg was sued by Mr Trump for $10m (£7.2m) for breach of confidentiality.

The lawsuit was later “amicably settled” out of court, according to a lawyer for the Trump Organization.

The BBC has obtained leaked emails that show a lobbying effort to get US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sacked for failing to support the United Arab Emirates against regional rival Qatar.

Mr Tillerson had criticised the blockade of Qatar and called for it to be eased, in comments that contrasted with Mr Trump’s support for the move.

Major Trump fundraiser and UAE-linked businessman Elliott Broidy met US President Donald Trump in October 2017 and urged him to sack Mr Tillerson, the emails reveal.

Mr Broidy’s defence company Circinus has hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts with the UAE, according to the New York Times newspaper.

He had recently returned from the UAE when he met Mr Trump at the White House in October.

In other emails, he calls the top US diplomat “a tower of Jello”, “weak” and says he “needs to be slammed”.

Saudi Arabia, UAE and a number of Arab countries cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in June 2017 over its alleged support for terrorism, a claim which it denies.
The unprecedented move was seen as a major split between powerful Gulf countries, who are also close US allies.

Who did Mr Broidy email?

He emailed a detailed account of his meeting with the president to George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman with decades of experience serving as an interlocutor between the Middle East and Washington.

Sources familiar with the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election and possible links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, tell the BBC that Mr Nader has become a person of interest and has been questioned in recent weeks.

Investigators questioned Mr Nader and other witnesses on whether there were any efforts by the Emiratis to buy political influence by directing money to Mr Trump’s presidential campaign, according to a New York Times report.

Mr Broidy also detailed a separate sit-down with Mr Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, according to the emails.

After Mr Broidy criticised Qatar extensively to Mr Kushner, “Jared’s demeanour was very passive and pleasant but he seemed to not want to engage on this issue,” he wrote to Mr Nader.

Kushner Companies – owned by the family of Jared Kushner – is reported to have in April 2017 sought financing from Qatar for its flagship property at 666 5th Avenue, New York.